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Monday, 14 November 2016

From Summer Hot dog to Winter Frankfurter

In this post, we're handing over to our friends at Kyrenia Animal Rescue for a heartwarming tale of hounds and homes …

It is always nice when we help to relocate pets – but even nicer when the pet was homed from our Rescue Centre.

Tinky had come into KAR after having being found just lying in the rain in a ditch – seemingly having given up trying to find somewhere warm and dry to rest. She was such a sad, sorry, little, wet and cold dog.

Tinky had only been with KAR a few months, when she caught the eyes of Sylvie and Heinz, from Germany. They already had a KAR rescue dog, Arap, who they homed in 2006, and wanted another to share their home with. Everyone was delighted when, after a few false hopes and starts, and, sadly, them not being able to have their original chosen dog, they were drawn like magnets to Tinky as soon as they saw her.

Throughout the long, hot summer, with temperatures in the high 30s, Tinky was told “not long now.” When she was lying at the back of her kennel with her friends trying to keep cool in the shade, the message was “soon be time.” When she was having a bath, she was reminded “this feels like the rain that you need to get used to." For Tinky, it was a very long, humid summer – she was one of the many Hot Dogs at KAR.

At last, as the summer began to draw to a close and the temperature dropped, it was Tinky's time. Time for her to travel. Time for her to go to Germany.

It was decided that Tinky would travel as an “accompanied pet” with Turkish Airlines, as opposed to travelling as a cargo booking. For some pets/owners this can be a cheaper alternative to cargo bookings, but it is not possible for pets flying into the UK.

Her flight was booked, all of the paperwork was finished, and Tinky set off. Owners often worry about how their pets will be handled during their loading, flight, and offloading, so it's nice to see from these photos the careful handling of Tinky by Ercan ground team.

KAR Pet Travel has worked hard with everyone at Ercan who deals with their travelling pets, and these photos show that the hard work has paid off – Tinky was carefully carried onto the aircraft and strapped into her special area of the hold.

Ground staff, Captain, and cabin crew liaised about Tinky, and the necessary reassurances for her travel were given. Tinky was off – she had a short transit, and a change of planes at Istanbul, and then continued on her journey to Germany.

After completing all of the entry processes and checks on entry to Germany, it was time … time for Tinky to be taken out of her travel box and be with Sylvie. There were tears all around, but they were happy tears. Tinky was delighted to be snuggled up in Sylvie’s arms – after all, no one had told her that this new place was going to be so cold!

She had a comfort break and walk outside – and even had time for a quick stop at McDonalds, before setting off for an hour's journey to her new house – all of the time being told “This is it Tinky – this is Germany – this is now Home.”

This is her new house, and her new friend, Arap.

She will even have a lake of her own to cool down in – won’t her KAR Hot Dog friends be envious!

Tinky won’t be a Summer Hot Dog again: she's now a Winter Frankfurter through and through!

Make sure you keep up with all the latest news from KAR via facebook, and its website.